Lagos: Auto parts dealers decry alleged plans to demolish Ladipo Market

Traders at Ladipo auto spare parts market in Lagos State have vowed to resist the alleged plans to demolish and reconstruct the market.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, the Chairman of Ladipo International Auto Spare Parts, Mushin, Mr. Kingsley Ogunor, said the claim by one developer that he had been given the mandate to demolish and re-construct the market was a lie.

He said that under the constitution of Lagos State, markets were under the jurisdiction of local governments, adding that there was no time the chairman of Mushin Local Government called members of executive of the market to inform them of any plan to demolish and re-construct the market.

He said, moreover, the land on which the market was located, was a subject of litigation between Mushin Local Government and the Awoyemi family, adding that the Lagos State House of Assembly was looking into the matter to ensure amicable resolution.

Ogunor wondered how a developer could claim that he had been given the mandate to demolish and re-construct the market, while the court had not ruled on the matter.

He appealed to Governor Babatunde Fashola and the state Commissioner of Police to call the developer to order, warning that going on with the 'illegal act,' could disrupt the current peace in the state.

He also urged the traders in the market and the members of the public not to fall into the trap of the so-called developer, who had already fixed the price of the shops and told people to pay without even moving to site.